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The Sixers suffered their first bad loss of the season on Wednesday night at the hands of the Nets. Tonight, they get a chance to get their feet back under them against another bad team (with injuries), but they can't make the same mistake they made against NJ. They need to come out with a sense of urgency and maintain it for 48 minutes.

Spencer Hawes went down with a back injury seventeen days ago. Since, he's played in a couple of games, but he was never full strength. Nikola Vucevic injured his quad/knee six days ago. The Sixers came into the season undermanned at the five, their started went down two-and-a-half weeks ago, their backup almost a week ago and they just now got around to working someone out?

If you had to pick one thing to blame for this loss, you'd have a bunch to choose from: Okur's banked three-pointer; Shawne Williams banked fifty-footer; a series of questionable whistles early in the fourth; allowing Deron Williams to get Jodie Meeks on him for the two biggest possessions of the game; Thad's injury; Hawes and Voose being out; terrible defensive rebounding in the first half; terrible ball security in the first half. Seriously, there are dozens, but one rises above the rest in my mind. (game capsule)

The Nets are an interesting, definitely pitiful, but interesting collection of players. They've got their superstar, who has played like anything but. They've got a rookie who has far exceeded expectations. They've got a shooter, a rebounder and a euro big man. When you add all these things together, well, they don't equal much of anything at all. Tonight, the Sixers need to pick them apart, piece by piece.

It was great to see the Sixers overcome a few obstacles and put Washington away last night, but it's imperative they don't lose their focus, not even for a second. The rest of this week is much more important for this team than most four-game stretches against bad teams.

After seeing the Sixers dismantle the Wizards for the third time in just under two weeks, I find myself wishing I had watched their win over the Thunder, because for the life of me, I can't figure out how anyone lost to that team. The Sixers came into the game without the services of Spencer Hawes and Nikola Vucevic. They came out of the game grabbing over 80% of available defensive rebounds and limiting Javale McGee to 2 points and 2 rebounds in 21 minutes of work. (game capsule)

Last week could've been better, could've been worse. As long as the Sixers get back to what they did for the first 14 games of the season, it was simply two wins and two losses. As long as they shake off their second half letdown against Miami, or better yet, use it as fuel for a relentless attack on the Wizards tonight, it won't mean a thing. (Check out my latest from SB Nation Philly)

There's no shame in losing to the Miami Heat in Miami, especially not when you're short your starting center, playing against a rested team when you're on the second night of a back-to-back. There's no shame in the loss, at all, but sometimes it's not if you lose, but how you lose that defines you as a team. What we saw in the second half last night was not characteristic of this Sixers team. (game capsule)

The defense was there all night. In the first half, the Hawks shot a completely unsustainable percentage on long twos. In the second half, they missed their jumpers, if they could even get a shot off, and the Sixers energy was too much for the Hawks (or anyone else) to handle. Big win to take over the #2 spot in the Eastern Conference. (game capsule)